


The Gates of Delirium

by noetherSA



Category: Call of Cthulhu (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Airports, Gen, Horror, Lovecraftian, Postmodernism, Psychological Horror, Spiders, mygalomorphs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 11:37:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18940147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noetherSA/pseuds/noetherSA
Summary: when you stop at an airport to make a connection, have you ever noticed how entirely divorced from time and space it seems?this is a short scenario intended for use with the call of cthulhu rpg. originally, I intended to run this for the d&d group I play with, but after a couple sessions, life got in the way and at least a few of them just weren't interested to start with, so I'm posting it here in the hope that someone will actually try to run it.also I think one of my other friends wrote an SCP log loosely based on this scenario, so I figured it'd be worth putting out there for posterity





	1. Side A: Airport Gothic

**The following is inspired by true events.**

It’s midnight. You’re at los angeles international airport, terminal 5, killing time while you wait for your 2:13 flight to honolulu, hawaii. Despite being so late at night, the place is active- people from all over the world scurry from gate to gate like there’s no tomorrow. Indistinct men in suits wait in line to have angry conversations over the payphones in languages you didn’t know existed. The little shops and cafes that dot the airport are open and thriving. 

The terminal comes equipped with a wcdonalds fast food restaurant, a corners book store, a queequeg coffee shop, a river rock gadget store, and “there’s something on the wing!” bar and grill. Were you to venture out into the unknown wilderness of the other terminals, you might find other stores or restaurants that more closely fit your interests. The flight to honolulu is in about 6 hours. If you have trouble sleeping on planes, finding something to amuse yourself with might be a good idea.

Periodically describe boarding calls being broadcasted over the intercom. Due to airport safety regulations, no ammunition is available to investigators, unless they find some lying around or steal a loaded gun from someone. All weapons, firearms or otherwise, are assumed to be stowed in their luggage somewhere and will take a combat round to retrieve in case a fight breaks out.

##  Store: Find your reading corner at corners book store!

“Now you see it!” brain teasers- a book of difficult visualization puzzles. Completing a puzzle requires a POWx5 check. After 7 successful checks, the investigator gains 1 POW. $8

“I’m a doctor, not a butthole engineer”- a cheaply printed star trek fan zine stuffed into a shelf along with the regular books. It’s free, since the bookstore doesn’t know it’s there, but anyone but a diehard fujo must make a SAN roll while reading it. On failure, they take 1d2-1 SAN damage

Porn mags- don’t use it on the plane. If masturbation was a skill, you’d get a check for reading one of these. $5

Skill magazines/books- it takes 1d4+2 hours to read, and results in a check for that skill. $5

##  Store: river rock sells the dumbest shit that will save your life

Sound burger: It’s a portable vinyl record player, because why not $300

Intelliviz Portable b&w television- lets you watch tv from wherever there’s a good signal $70

A ti-83 graphing calculator- lets the user do complex math easily $150

Sandy pocket PC- someone with moderate computer use could write simple programs. Can also do complex math easily. Printer and cassette peripherals are available, as well as a memory expansion $250

RC car- it’s styled to look like some kind of g.i. Joe accessory. It can keep pace with a human, and has a battery life of 45 minutes. you could probably mount something more useful on top of it $60

Strollboy cassette player- plays audio cassettes only. DO NOT TRY TO PLAY COMPUTER PROGRAMS WITH YOUR STROLLBOY $150

Polaroid camera- takes the good picture. An important component of any tropical getaway $130

Additional paper- $20/20 sheets 

Synth solutions 4000x mobile phone- boasts an astounding 30-minute call time and 6 hour battery life. Cell networks are spotty, but hey, it would probably come in handy $3500

A yellowstone single-use camera- can take 12 photos. Must be developed at a 1-hour photo or similar store. $7

Zheng he portable GPS device- you can tell where you are, to 4 significant figures! $200

Multitool- contains pliers, philips and flathead screwdrivers, a small knife, a file, a very small pair of scissors, and a bottle opener $60

Casiopea calculator watch- CALCULATOR WATCH!! $80

Simon- a game game that displays a series of colored lights and tones, and prompts the user to repeat the sequence. The investigator makes an INT check against the device, starting at double advantage and decreasing by 1 bonus dice every third round. If you use it on the plane, the people next to you will hate you forever. $30

An LCD digital watch. Some find it easier to read than analogue. $40

Machina dynamica brilliant pebbles- a bag of rocks you tape to audio cables to make it sound (almost) imperceptibly better. $60

##  Sidequest: toilet struggle

The investigators receive a telepathic message:  “someone! Anyone! Please help me! There is a grave emergency in the terminal 5 lavatory, and I need you to help me  _ immediately!!” _

The source of the message is hanako suisou, a woman with a hole for a face. She wears her hair in a bob, and is dressed like an office worker, though who knows what sort of office she works in. As she is inside a stall, the investigators can only see her feet

If at any point an investigator sees hanako’s face-hole, they must make a SAN roll. Failure deals 1d6 SAN damage, success deals none. hanako screams and explodes into bees that disappear when they hit a surface

The women’s bathroom is oddly quiet, considering the commotion. hanako beckons the investigators over to her stall. The stall is out of toilet paper, and she needs the players to get her more, or at least something she can use as such. 

The next stall over has toilet paper, but it’s locked in its housing. A successful lockpick roll could open it. An investigator could probably feed the paper under the barrier to hanako’s stall. Otherwise, the bookstore is an option.

hanako slides a business card under the stall door and instructs the investigators to call if they see anything weird, you know, besides this apparently telepathic office lady. 

The card reads: hanako suisou, kurogawa heavy industries, santa monica, CA.

Hanako will also say something to the effect of  “have you noticed how many spiders there are around here? Please do your best to avoid being bitten. Or actually, come to think of it, I don’t think they’re actually spiders.” if the investigators press her on this, she will continue:  “well, true spiders have fangs that point inwards towards each other. Most of the creatures I’ve seen here have fangs that point straight down, so they’re mygalomorphs”

hanako disappears as soon as the investigators stop paying attention to her

If the investigators go back later to check back in on her, the stall she was in is empty, but remains locked

##  Back on the rails

After giving the players an opportunity to mill about for a while, a flight attendant gets on the intercom:  “attention passengers, flight 343 to honolulu has been delayed due to a tropical storm in the flight path. It is expected to clear by morning, and your flight will depart from gate 72 in terminal 7 at 8:28 am. Please come to the counter to receive your new boarding pass.”

The investigators and the flight’s other passengers finish what they were doing and begin to make their way over to the new gate. Should any decide to loiter in terminal 5, trigger “hey dipshit, deliver these drugs,” “fishy flirting,” or “pickpocket.”

Investigators on the way to terminal 7 will notice that the trip seems to be taking longer than the distance would imply. Eventually, they hear over the intercom  “this is the final boarding call for flight 764 to los angeles”

They’ll probably try to ask a passerby where the fuck they are, and the person will either look at them like they have 3 heads and say “uh, this is atlanta,” or make a joke about how it can be hard to keep airports straight sometimes

##  Sidequest: hey dipshit, deliver these drugs

Use this if someone is sitting around doing nothing for a while

As you loiter around by the gate, you accidentally make eye contact with a man holding a briefcase, looking around expectantly. He approaches.

The man says something to the effect of “hey, my flight’s about to leave, and I need someone to deliver this briefcase to my colleague over at gate 41.” he will hand the investigator $400 in cash in order to try to persuade them.

The briefcase is combination-locked. Inside is a bunch of cocaine.

Airport security comes by and asks if anyone has seen the briefcase guy. If they recognize the briefcase, the investigator has to convince (fast talk) the cops that it’s a normal briefcase that isn’t full of drugs.

If they hand over the briefcase or are found out, the cops confiscate it. Someone affiliated with the drug boys will pick a fight with them later on

If they don’t deliver the case for any other reason, the drug boys will get impatient and pick a fight with them later

The target location is a bench near terminal 4, gate 41. If they sit around and wait there, another drug boy will trade the drugs for a paper bag containing $1023 in non-consecutive $20 bills.

If the investigator fails to conceal the briefcase from security, they’ll get taken in for questioning at an inopportune time

###  **Encounter: drug boys**

If the investigator with the briefcase dawdles a bunch or loses the briefcase, they get accosted by a pair of drug runners in the bathroom. One is armed with a “paperweight,” the other is empty-handed.. They are looking for a fight, but are not immediately violent.

They begin by demanding that the investigator get a move on. 

Successful fast talk or persuasion will result in them asking the investigator for both the briefcase and the cash back. They don’t actually know how much the bribe was, so the investigator can cheat them out of some of it if they’re smart about it. Intimidation will get them to back off

If combat starts, they’ll fight until they feel like they’re losing or are attracting attention, at which point they’ll try to bolt.

###  **Store: AMERICA!**

Terminal 4 is the home of the AMERICA! Shop. If an investigator wants to add some bona fide american flair to their dull, freedomless life, this is the place to do it

Stock includes clothes, mugs, neck pillows, and ronald reagan movies on both betamax and VHS. patterns include “AMERICA!” “STARS AND STRIPES, MOTHERFUCKER,” and “REAGAN’S HANDSOME DISEMBODIED HEAD”

AMERICA! brand clothes make law enforcement characters like them more.

##  Sidequest: Fishy flirting

Use this if someone is sitting around doing nothing for a while or to pad for time. It’s best used against a player or investigator who has trouble telling people to fuck off. Alternatively, throw this at someone who would get pissed in a particularly funny way

A young woman, probably about 19, approaches an investigator while they’re alone. She has no luggage, and is dressed casually, if a bit provocatively. An observant investigator might notice patches and pins on her clothes that bely her affiliation

She’s trying to recruit people for the “construction of light esoteric lodge,” which is definitely not a cult. She’s trying to follow a script, and if she gets derailed, she becomes increasingly flustered. 

This is basically a social combat encounter, and the investigator wins when they get her to leave them alone. They don’t necessarily have to beat her in a roll or anything, they could just as easily stonewall her until she gets frustrated and leaves, or do something that might attract attention from others. Otherwise, she’ll keep going as long as she’s able to progress in her script.

Sister Caroline’s most holy script of bystander recruitment:

  * **Part I** : make small talk
  * **Part II** : determine the flavor and extent of their existential ennui
  * **Part III** : connect their ennui to a function of the lodge
  * **Part IV** : exchange contact info and confer lodge meeting schedules and pamphlet
  * **Level 5** : Attempt to seduce target for the glory of satan !!FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE!!



There are a few ways this is likely to play out

**Route A: smile and nod**

The investigator plays along with caroline’s script, or whatever they assume the script is, and she leaves once she hands over the pamphlet and contact info.

**Route B: stonewall**

For whatever reason, caroline gets stuck in her script or the investigator keeps derailing her, and she leaves in a huff. She may or may not leave behind a pamphlet, “in case you change your mind”

**Route C: fuck off**

The investigator does something that frightens her, be it intimidation, a threat of violence, or drawing the attention of onlookers. She gets the hell out of dodge before things escalate. 

**Route D: construct the light in me right now please**

The investigator actually wants to join the cult. This opens so many bizarre pathways that are way beyond the scope of this scenario that I wouldn’t even know how to handle. Level 5 may or may not happen off in the background somewhere while normal investigators do other things

If sister caroline believes herself to be on amicable terms with the investigator, whether or not it’s mutual, she’ll be a contact they can run into later. Otherwise, the player gets a check in psychology. They’ll be sure to spot a scoundrel like caroline in the future!

##  Sidequest: pickpocket

Use this if someone is sitting around doing nothing, and also has no contacts with folks at the destination or in some faction or another. Also if an investigator has something important in their wallet, this is probably a good one to spring on them.

An investigator passes through a particularly busy hallway and someone bumps into them and attempts to steal their wallet. Depending on what’s more interesting, the investigator either rolls luck or spot hidden to determine if they catch the thief in the act. If they don’t, they realize the next time they try to buy something, or after 20+ minutes of fucking around in in-game time.

If the catch the thief in the act, they can do whatever they want to try and get the wallet back. If they’re obviously violent, security will detain them, and they can explain what happened.

If they don’t catch the thief, then they can probably ask the staff or other investigators if anyone saw anything, requiring a hard luck roll from whoever they ask. Otherwise, they can go to security, who will have caught the thief either the next time the investigator comes into focus, or at the end of the module. The thief will have taken the cash in their wallet, equalling $60 or 1/4 of their spending level, whichever is lower. 

If they involve airport security, a staff member will give them their number to call and be a possible law enforcement contact for later.

The investigator gets an inspiration dice if they lose money at the end of the quest, or a check in spot hidden if they catch the thief in the act.

##  NPC: Hanako Suisou

Hanako is a spectral manifestation of japanese office culture hailing from the dreamlands. Her lack of a face is representative of the loss of identity within business culture, because if anything characterizes the dreamlands, it’s hamfisted symbolism. She always speaks in very formal language. Sometimes a viscous black fluid oozes from her face-hole when she gets excited. 

Hanako’s only special power is that she can use the phone without anxiety. She may assist players with secretarial work and archive retrieval from time to time, but she’s worse than useless in combat and understands only slightly more about ~the true nature of reality~ than the investigators. 

The name and sidequest are supposed to be a reference to hanako the toilet ghost, a spooky story japanese kids apparently tell each other.

##  NPC: Sister Caroline P. Dawson

An acolyte of the construction of light esoteric lodge. She’s been a member for about 8 months, and at least outwardly appears to enjoy it. During that period, she’s gradually cut contact with most outsiders and mostly just exists in lodge-related social circles. 

The lodge is total exploitative horseshit, but by pure chance they got some things right. Caroline has a 5% mythos skill, but will always assert the lodge’s own tenets with absolute certainty, regardless of if they’re actually correct. 

She’s knowledgeable about the occult as it pertains to various other totally respectable religious organizations, and is decent at persuasion and psychology. She’s rather helpless in a fight, though she carries a knife in her bag in case a level 5 goes wrong.

##  NPC: Officer Clarence Newton

A police officer with the airport police. He’s black, in his mid 40s, and slightly overweight. He loves coffee and hates crime. He has a generally sleepy demeanor. His daughter’s name is alice, and she’s in 5th grade. If any investigators interact with the police, he’s their point of contact. 

If the investigator does crimes or otherwise makes a scene, he’ll be irritated with them. 

If they had the crimes done to them, he’s more sympathetic.

He’s proficient with handguns and okay-ish at brawling. He carries a glock, a taser, and a nightstick.

**This concludes side A. please flip over the tape and re-insert it into your playback device.**


	2. Side B: Cedric’s Tea Party

**The following is based on true events**

## Chilling at ATL

Ideally, the players will start looking for a solution to their characters’ problems rather than milling about some more, but if they do, feel free to apply any unused sidequests from side A, or casually remind them that they’re going to miss their flight if they don’t get a move on.

During the introductory portion of side B, the goal is to guide the investigators to the dungeon crawl. There are a few ways to do this

**Option the first: they call hanako**

If they completed toilet struggles successfully and got hanako’s number, she can be contacted by payphone and will tell the gang to look out for doorways or corridors that don’t make sense. She’ll explain in vague terms that they’re caught in a spiderweb. They can roll if they want, but if someone says that they’re specifically looking for surreal architecture, they’re going to find it.

From there, she’ll explain, the pathway will lead back to LAX. also they must be more careful in the future!

**Option the second: they find a weird door on their own**

If someone makes a hard spot hidden check, they see an entrance.

**Option the third: idea roll**

On a success, the players remember that they have hanako’s number and she told them to call her if weird shit happened

On a failure, the investigators remember they have her number, but waste 2 hours and the dungeon that begins with a combat encounter instead of supplies

In any case, the entrance is an elevator door that looks like it would poke out onto the tarmac. If the investigators look inside and decide to try to find another entrance, there’s also a shouji sliding door in a bookstore, and an AMERICA! Store with a regular door that happens to have a union jack on it that all lead to various places in the maze.

Should the investigators try to leave, they’ll wind up wandering into some other airport elsewhere in the world by accident.

## The gates of delirium

The elevator door leads into a labyrinth constructed out of mismatched airport assets. Baggage claims, terminals, hudson newsstands, metal detectors, etc. the place looks like it’s long been in disrepair. The paint on the walls is chipping, the lights have gone dim, there’s mysterious residue all over the place, and the corners are dense with cobwebs. Some corridors are attached at an angle. In some passageways, the walls are splattered with a bright orange fluid.

Now and then, a voice over the intercom will announce flights with nonsense numbers leaving from nonsense gates. Signposts hang from the ceiling pointing to gates labeled in dead alphabets

Some sections of the complex are equipped with windows. Outside are bits of debris suspended in an infinite blackness, mostly mutilated airplane parts and luggage carts. San check, 0/1d2

While they’re exploring, the investigators hear a flurry of tapping or scraping noises, akin to a dog walking on tile.

There are a few bodies scattered throughout, exsanguinated by the wolf spiders. The first the investigators find is officer newton. On finding a corpse, roll san, 1/1d4. Further corpses have nothing of note on them.

There’s a map for all this that’s attached towards the end, but theater of the mind is more effective outside of like, a chase sequence

###  **Encounter: officer newton**

Officer newton is a cop who got trapped in the web. The investigators might recognize him if they’ve interacted with the police previously.

If the investigators found the dungeon without flubbing an idea roll, he’s already dead. They can “borrow” his glock 19 (5x9mm rounds), nightstick, or taser for free. If they pass a spot hidden roll, they get an extra clip with 9x9mm rounds.

Officer newton appears sort of deflated, and 3 pairs of 2” diameter puncture wounds are visible.

If they entered the dungeon after flubbing an idea roll, he’s still alive and experiencing a bout of mania. If he spots the players, he’ll scream, empty his clip at them and bolt. He’s covered in some kind of bright orange fluid, a stark contrast from his uniform. He has all the same equipment on his person as if he were dead, sans fired bullets, and if the investigators disarm, restrain, or murder him, they can mug him. Since he’s freaking the fuck out, interrogation won’t yield much beyond swearing and whimpers about spiders

If he escapes the players, the investigators might hear more gunshots off in the distance once or twice. He’ll turn up later, dead, having fired the rest of his bullets.

###  **Encounter: Sister Caroline**

Caroline is also lost in the web, wandering alone. The investigators nearly bump into her rounding a corner, and she swears and drops her knife. She’ll be relieved to run into the party, but if an investigator pissed her off earlier, her mood will sour if she recognizes them. She has about as much of an idea of what’s going on as the players do.

She joins the party temporarily. She may or may not try to evangelize about the cult. Most of what she has to say should be filtered through her experience with them at any rate.

If she’s cordial with whoever encountered her before, she’ll ask if they read through the pamphlet and be a bit irritated if they haven’t

Caroline will explain how some of the cult superiors believe that the places with the most people in need of guidance are airports, bus depots, shopping malls, and chain restaurants. She quotes one of her superiors saying that they’re “like springs connected to the aquifer of human despair”

### Encounter: observation room

A security office equipped with cctv displays. The monitors are piled on top of a desk in a heap, and most display static. There’s also a vcr and a stack of vhs tapes, most with the labels worn off or blank. Some appear melted together, and distended tape spills over the desk and floor. There are 4 viewable tapes, the rest are in too poor condition to play, or are only static and metallic grinding noises.

One tape is a recording of something an investigator did earlier in the campaign, ideally something that there shouldn’t be footage of at all, such as their interaction with hanako in the bathroom. The label features a harlequin pattern, drawn on in yellow and pink highlighter.

Another tape is dune, starring kyle mclaughlin

The third tape is of a hallway, apparently one within the web. The footage is grainy and filmed from a strange angle, so it’s hard to make out exactly what’s happening. After 5 minutes of nothing, a scream and gunshots can be heard off-camera. Officer newton runs through the hallway, clearly out of breath. A frenzied tapping noise follows. Newton pauses to catch his breath, shoots at something, and runs off again. A hairy creature with several pairs of legs, about the size of a particularly large dog, careens across the camera lens, followed by two others a moment later. This is followed by more screaming and gunshots. The hallway is empty  and silent for the remainder of the tape.

The fourth tape is also footage from within the web. The camera is inside a closed room. It’s dark, except for a pale glow emitting from the seam between two walls. A humanoid figure squeezes through the seam and disappears.

###  **Encounter: a pack of wolf spiders**

The trio of wolf spiders try to sneak up on the investigators for an ambush. A successful spot hidden check starts combat on even terms, otherwise, the spiders get a surprise round.

One of the spiders begins with a major wound. An orange fluid seeps from a split in its carapace. This spider hangs back and tries to avoid damage.

Wolf spiders follow the typical wolf hunting strategy- they close in on their prey, try to scare them into running, chase them down, and then kill them. If a spider gets shot at or sustains a major wound, the pack retreats

The spiders will begin by trying to intimidate the investigators into fleeing, by spreading out their forelegs and pedipalps to look bigger, baring their fangs, and emitting a pheromone that smells like burning hair. Investigators roll san, 0/1d6. On a surprise round, they must make a hard save.

They are reluctant to attack directly during this phase. If the investigators move in to melee attack, the spiders will try to dodge and push them away with their long legs.

If one or more investigators flee, the spiders will immediately stop what they were doing to chase after them. Their strategy from that point is to grapple and then inject a target with venom

Consider making caroline automatically fail in order to force a chase

###  **Camping out**

If the investigators decide to sit around for an extended period of time, such as for a medicine roll, and the wolf spiders haven’t been dealt with, they roll luck. On a failure, they begin the wolf spider encounter. Otherwise, nothing happens.

## Getting outside

The investigators come across a room where a pale green glow emits from the seam between two walls. Closer inspection reveals that it’s a gap they can squeeze through.

From there, they can see the true outside of the web- the corridors they’ve been trudging through suspended in pastel green nothingness. The outsides are rough and uneven. Walls sometimes phase through each other for short distances, and anything hanging from the walls pokes out into space.

A climb check allows the investigators to scale the outside of the web to get to the upper surface. On a failure, an investigator will need help from a friend.

From the surface of the web, they can see further-

Endless passages of hallways and terminals stretch out into the aether. In the distance, a titanic creature rests atop the structure, staring intently at nothing in particular. Its body is an airplane fuselage, its abdomen a turbine, it’s eyes delay and its legs frustration. Its monstrous fangs drip with postmodern ennui. Though it superficially resembles a spider, you can tell it’s something unlike any spider you’ve seen before. Specifically, its fangs point straight down, making it a mygalomorph instead of a true spider. Roll san, 1d6/2d6.

As you look on in awe, a black winged shape the size of a skyscraper careens past and slams into the web off past the spiderlike creature, sending violent undulations throughout the web. Roll dex, or eat shit and take 1 damage. The creature suddenly jumps to life and speeds off to the crash site. It encases the twitching form in airport corridors and injects its deadly venom.

if/when the gang regains their senses, they can see through a glass skylight down into an atrium within the web that has another opening to the outside. If they don’t want to take the hint and wander around some more, have them clip through the “floor” and fall back inside anyway.

## Back inside

If the investigators look up through the skylight, they see the black void full of airplane parts again.

This section of the web is walled off from the previous section, but bears the same general appearance.

###  **Encounter: egg sac**

Up in a corner, the investigators see a large mass of spiderweb about the size of a car plastered to the walls and ceiling. Occasionally it jiggles a bit as something moves under the surface. Nearby is the discarded exoskeleton of a wolf spider. The mass of web stinks to high heaven, similar to the stench emitted by the spiders earlier.

If the investigators try to open the sac, a dozen or so cat-sized spiders resembling the wolf spiders from earlier spill out onto the floor. Their eyes are larger and the coloration of their carapace is a muted grey-brown with white spots. One lands on its back and flails its legs wildly in the air above it.

If left unharmed, one or more will imprint on an investigator and attempt to climb on their back and ride around.

If the investigators attack them, the litter will scatter in all directions

## Exit

After wandering this new section of web, the investigators find a door with an exit sign over it. This opens into a dark room. A sliver of light enters from around a doorway, but it isn’t enough to be able to see much of anything. The room smells of harsh cleaning fluids. By feeling around, investigators can find some shelves with plastic bottles, a mop, and a light switch. The room is cramped, with maybe five or six square feet to move around in.

Any wolf spider pups in tow disappear when the investigators pass through the exit.

The door is locked, but can be picked or broken down. Alternatively, someone could set off the smoke alarm and airport fire safety will bust down the door and be pissed at them.

They exit out into terminal 7 of LAX

## A return to normalcy

Depending on how successful overall the players were, they might have anywhere between a couple hours or a couple minutes before their flight leaves. Investigators can fuck around in the terminal if there’s time, or just timeskip until they’re on the plane.

Terminal 7 contains similar shops to terminal 5: a tome stew bookstore, a pointy picture electronics store, and a fast food restaurant and coffee shop.

There is also a storefront called “chill out!” which features a half dozen coin-op massage chairs which restore 1d2 san

## Cedric

Cedric is not a spider. Its fangs point straight down, so technically it’s a mygalomorph.

Cedric is a creature that exists in symbolic space. It captures passing flying creatures in its web, and then eats them. Its main sources of food are rugose floaters and the occasional blisterwing. Typical arachnid faire.

In the material world, though, the web manifests as labyrinthine constructs growing out of and connecting places and objects related to the concept it’s built in. so in this case, since cedric cast its web in an airport, the web is made out of airports.

Cedric’s size relative to its web is similar to that of a material spider. In this case, the investigators perceive it as the size of a sports stadium, because a web of airports is necessarily large. In reality, size doesn’t mean much of anything in symbolic space

Cedric takes on an appearance derivative of the symbolic space it inhabits. Its body is an airplane fuselage, its abdomen a turbine, it’s eyes delay and its legs frustration.

## Wolf spiders

Parasitic spiders that chase down smaller prey caught in cedric’s web, such as investigators. They are pack hunters, and follow the typical lupine hunting pattern of surrounding a thing and yelling at it until it tries to bolt. They are about a meter tall and two meters long, with a legspan of about a meter

Whether the players interpret the name as some kind of 8-legged wolf, or just a wolf-sized spider should be left up to them. Appearances are subjective in symbolic space.

Wolf spiders use a modified wolf statblock to account for their venom and larger size due to their wide stance. 

* * *

**What?!**

this scenario is loosely based off of marc auge's philosophical idea of non-places. a non-place is a location that lacks specific connections to the people and culture that uses it, and lacks individual significance. a chain fast food restaurant, for example, is largely disconnected from both the people who work it and the people who eat there. the staff and customers in any given mcdonalds are interchangeable. auge lists highways, hotel rooms, shopping malls, and airports as potential non-places.

cedric's web represents this interchangeability. ATL and LAX have no individuality, and they blend together in our minds. in this scenario, they blend together in a more literal sense.

the web also draws from certain conventions in video game development. it's common for developers to cram multiple locations into a loading zone that serve a similar function but are accessed from wildly different locations. for example, the fairy fountains in majora's mask are accessed from all corners of the world, but in reality, they're all stored on the same tiny map a few yards apart. through some creative glitching, link can enter one fountain, go out of bounds to reach a different fountain, and exit to the other side of termina. cedric lives in this sort of out of bounds space where things that are similar are grouped together and bleed into each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the harlequin pattern on the tape and the person who went out of bounds on the other tape were supposed to be hooks pointing towards a nyarlathotep expy I was setting up for the hypothetical next scenario. basically they were gonna tell the investigators to do extremely petty and dangerous cult-related sidequests for them in exchange for information

**Author's Note:**

> gear stats can be found in the CoC book. NPC statblocks aren't exactly set in stone; I just grabbed some prefabs off of dhole's house
> 
> I intended this to be run mostly without maps as a theatre of the mind sort of thing, but there are plenty of LAX maps online to draw from. for the dungeon in the latter part of the campaign, I traced over one of the starcraft installation missions, but I never got to test that bit out, so I have no idea how well that would've worked, or if I really needed it


End file.
